Royal Icing Paint

Ingredients

1/4 cup
meringue powder

1/2 cup
water

4 1/2 cups
icing sugar

paste food colouring

Method

In large bowl, beat meringue powder with water until foamy, about 2 minutes. Beat in sugar until stiff, about 9 minutes. Divide between 2 bowls; tint 1 of the bowls desired colour. Divide each bowl in half to make 2 white and 2 coloured small bowls. Cover with damp cloths to prevent drying out.

Ugly Sweater Cookies

No ugly sweater party is complete without these themed cookies! The gaudier the better, so let the kids' imaginations run wild with endless candy and colour combinations. Reserve some of the icing to use for decorating, and pipe stripes and patterns onto the sweaters, if desired.

Method

In large bowl, beat butter with granulated sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg, fancy molasses and cooking molasses until combined. In separate bowl, whisk together flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda and salt; stir into butter mixture in 2 additions just until combined. If necessary, knead gently to form smooth dough. Divide dough in half; shape into discs. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. (Make-ahead: Refrigerate for up to 48 hours.)

Bake, 1 sheet at a time, in 325°F (160°C) oven until firm, about 12 minutes. Let cool on pans for 1 minute; transfer directly to racks to cool completely.

While cookies are cooling, in large bowl, beat meringue powder with 1/2 cup water until foamy, about 2 minutes. Beat in icing sugar until stiff and glossy, about 9 minutes. Divide icing among 2 to 4 small bowls (you'll need 1 bowl for each colour of icing).

Using food colouring, tint each bowl of icing to desired shade. Working with 1 colour at a time, spoon icing into piping bag fitted with small plain tip; pipe outlines onto cookies to create sweater shapes. Let stand until dry, about 30 minutes.

Gradually add water, 1/4 tsp at a time, to remaining icings until mixtures are consistency of molasses. Working with 1 cookie at a time, spoon icings onto centres of outlines; using toothpick or skewer, spread to piped edges, popping any air bubbles. Decorate with candies and decorating sugar (if using). Let stand until dry, about 1 hour. (Make-ahead: Store in airtight container for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 1 month.)
Tip from The Test Kitchen: Find assorted holiday-themed candies to adorn your sweater creations at your local bulk food store.

Method

In bowl, whisk coconut with 1 tsp of the clementine zest. Set aside.

In food processor, pulse clementines until finely chopped.

In small saucepan, bring clementines and 1/4 cup of the sugar to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until mixture reaches jam-like consistency and is reduced by half, about 7 minutes. Let cool completely, about 30 minutes.

In large bowl, beat together egg whites, remaining sugar and cornstarch until foamy. Stir in coconut mixture and clementine mixture. Let stand until liquid is absorbed, about 5 minutes.

Best Maple Butter Tarts

This recipe is featured on:

Make your own delectable custardy tarts instead of buying them. We've subbed in the very Canadian ingredient maple syrup for the more common corn syrup. Plus, we've included variations on the classic, with chocolate and pecans instead of raisins.

Method

Sour Cream Pastry: In bowl, whisk flour with salt. Using pastry blender, cut in butter and lard until in fine crumbs with a few larger pieces. Whisk water with sour cream; drizzle over flour mixture, tossing briskly with fork and adding more water if necessary to form ragged dough. Press into disc; wrap and refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes. (Make-ahead: Refrigerate for up to 3 days.)

Bake in 350?F (180?C) oven until filling is set and pastry is golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Run thin knife around edges to release tarts. Let cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Transfer to rack; let cool completely. (Make-ahead: Store in single layer in airtight container at room temperature for up to 24 hours.)

The Ultimate Pizza Dough

Our foolproof dough delivers the most amazing pizza crust you'll ever taste. The long rising time results in a lovely texture and extra-rich flavour. It's so easy to make and can be stretched into either a regular or thin-crust pizza. You'll never want to order in again!

Ingredients

Nutritional facts
per each of 8 slices of 12-inch (30 cm) regular crust ( without toppings) : about

Fibre1 g

Sodium144 mg

Sugarstrace

Protein4 g

Calories125.0

Total fat2 g

Potassium40 mg

Cholesterol0 mg

Saturated fattrace

Total carbohydrate23 g

%RDI

Iron11.0

Fibre0.0

Folate23.0

Sodium0.0

Sugars0.0

Calcium1.0

Protein0.0

Calories0.0

Total fat0.0

Vitamin A0.0

Vitamin C0.0

Potassium0.0

Cholesterol0.0

Saturated fat0.0

Total carbohydrate0.0

Method

In large bowl, whisk together 1-1/2 cups of the flour, yeast and salt. Using wooden spoon, stir in warm water and olive oil until ragged dough forms.

Turn out onto lightly floured surface; knead dough, adding as much of the remaining flour, a little at a time, as needed to make smooth, elastic dough (slightly tacky to the touch, but won't stick to hands or work surface), about 8 minutes.

Transfer to greased bowl; turn dough to grease all over. Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 24 hours. (Orlet rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in bulk, about 1-1/2 hours.)